Hello everyone,
Today, we’re happy to announce the release of playable artillery onto the live build of the alpha! The artillery release is part of update 166 which is the largest update we have ever released for the game. We’re looking forward to be sharing its details with you below!
Before we get started, however, we’d like to thank everyone who’s helped us test out the features of the artillery in the public test branch of the game - we’ve been able to identify and fix a substantial amount of issues thanks to you all.
That being said, we do expect to see several new issues coming into view as we now begin mass testing on the live alpha build and so we look forward to seeing all of your feedback.
Artillery
To get things started, we’ve created a little demonstration video highlighting the basics of the artillery mechanics. The video features Campfire Games Historical Advisor George Crecy as the mean drill instructor - enjoy!
Artillery basics demonstration
Let’s now take a look at exactly what we’re adding in update 166.
- Added the first version of player operated artillery to the alpha. This includes an operational 3 inch ordnance rifle and its limber.
Union Battery volley firing near Otto & Sherrick Farms, Antietam
- The 3 inch ordnance rifle can be operated via a number of loading steps as well as movement & aiming interaction points: sponging the barrel, inserting the round & powder, ramming the round & powder, priming the cannon, firing the cannon, pushing the cannon by its wheels (two players are recommended for this but it can be done with one at a considerably slower speed), turning the elevation screw in order to adjust the aim of the cannon vertically and picking up the trail spike in order to adjust the aim of the cannon horizontally (these feature two different speeds - hold shift in order to speed up the process).
Turning the elevation screw to change elevation and set the fuze
Moving the cannon - it goes quite a lot faster with two people on the wheels
Picking up and moving the trail spike in order to aim horizontally
- The limber can be moved in much the same way as the cannon can. It features an openable limber chest containing shell, case shot and canister types of rounds for the 3 inch ordnance rifle.
Moving the pole of the limber in order to steer it
- Added Union & Confederate artillery camps as well as firing ranges to the drill camp level. The infantry regiments will spawn in on the infantry drill camps while the artillery crews will spawn in on the battery camps.
Union Artillery Camp
Union Artillery Firing Range
Union Artillery Firing Range
Confederate Artillery Camp
Confederate Artillery Firing Range
Confederate Artillery Firing Range
- Added more than 40 artillery batteries, containing their correct number of guns (although all are currently the 3 inch ordnance rifle type), to their historic positions on our skirmish areas (this is not limited to a single position as batteries would often move a great deal throughout the day in a battle so you might see the same batteries featured in several skirmish areas at different times in the day). Some skirmish areas have had their map boundaries expanded in order to support the batteries placed at their historical positions.
The skirmish area artillery updates are as follows:
South Mountain
Garland’s Stand
USA
Crome’s Battery
CSA
Bondurant’s Battery
Bondurant’s Battery (CSA), Garland’s Stand, South Mountain
Bondurant’s Battery (CSA), Garland’s Stand, South Mountain
Cox’s Push
CSA
Pelham’s Battery
Anderson’s Counterattack
USA
Clark’s Battery
Clark’s Battery (USA), Anderson’s Counterattack, South Mountain
Clark’s Battery (USA), Anderson’s Counterattack, South Mountain
Reno’s Fall
USA
Glassie’s Battery
Colquitt’s Defence
USA
Stewart’s Battery
CSA
Lane’s Battery
Harpers Ferry
River Crossing
USA
Potts’ Battery
CSA
Read’s Battery
Manly’s Battery
French’s Battery
Carlton’s Battery
Manly’s Battery (CSA), Available in all of the downtown skirmish areas, Harpers Ferry
Manly’s Battery (CSA), Available in all of the downtown skirmish areas, Harpers Ferry
Downtown
CSA
Manly’s Battery
French’s Battery
School House Ridge
USA
Von Sehlen’s Battery
Phillips’ Battery
Graham’s Battery
CSA
Courtney’s Battery
Brockenbrough’s Battery
High Street
CSA
Manly’s Battery
French’s Battery
Bolivar Heights Camp
USA
Von Sehlen’s Battery
Graham’s Battery
Phillips’ Battery
CSA
Brockenbrough’s Battery
Shenandoah Street
CSA
Manly’s Battery
French’s Battery
Harpers Graveyard
USA
Graham’s Battery
CSA
Manly’s Battery
French’s Battery
Bolivar Heights Redoubt
USA
Rigby’s Battery
Potts’ Battery
CSA
Walker’s Battery
Rigby’s Battery (USA), Bolivar Heights Redoubt, Harpers Ferry
Rigby’s Battery (USA), Bolivar Heights Redoubt, Harpers Ferry
Washington Street
CSA
Manly’s Battery
French’s Battery
Antietam
East Woods Skirmish
USA
Cooper’s Battery
Hooker’s Push
USA
Matthews’ Battery
Thompson’s Battery
CSA
Brockenbrough’s Battery
Jordan’s Battery
Poague’s Battery
Hagerstown Turnpike
USA
Campbell’s Battery
CSA
Brockenbrough’s Battery
Poague’s Battery
Campbell’s Battery (USA), Hagerstown Turnpike, Antietam
Campbell’s Battery (USA), Hagerstown Turnpike, Antietam
Miller’s Cornfield
USA
Matthews’ Battery
Ransom’s Battery
CSA
Blackshear’s Battery
Nicodemus Hill
USA
Campbell’s Battery
Reynolds’ Battery
CSA
Wooding’s Battery
Balthis’ Battery
Pelham’s Battery
Carpenter’s Battery
Bloody Lane
CSA
Miller’s Battery
Pry Ford
USA
McGilvery’s Battery
CSA
D’Aquin’s Battery
Pry House
USA
Weaver’s Battery
CSA
Squires’ Battery
Dunker Church
USA
Edgell’s Battery
Tompkins’ Battery
CSA
Carlton’s Battery
Carlton’s Battery (CSA), Dunker Church, Antietam
Carlton’s Battery (CSA), Dunker Church, Antietam
Burnside Bridge
USA
Clark’s Battery
CSA
Richardson’s Battery
Brown’s Battery
Cooke’s Countercharge
USA
Owen’s Battery
Otto & Sherrick Farm
USA
Cook’s Battery
CSA
Maurin’s Battery
Roulette Lane
USA
Graham’s Battery
Piper Farm
USA
Owen’s Battery
Hexamer’s Battery
CSA
Brooks’ Battery
Boyce’s Battery
Hill’s Counterattack
CSA
Brown’s Battery
Reily’s Battery
- Added a forward spawn feature for all batteries. This enables battery crews to quickly get back into the action by spawning at the initial deployment location of their battery (note that cannons as well as limbercarts can be moved during play). If enough enemy players are close enough to the forward spawn point of the battery, however, it will become disabled for as long as it is occupied. This allows teams to effectively take over a battery from the enemy, denying them the forward spawn point as well as possibly turning the guns and using the battery for themselves if they have any available battery crew members on their own team to do so. Note that not all forward battery spawn points are actually situated within the confines of the contested playing fields of the skirmish areas (the batteries are placed where they were historically - sometimes that means up close and person in the action, at other times it means far to the rear, unable to do anything but fire in-directly towards the enemy. Should a forward spawning point have been occupied by the enemy and thus disabled a battery crew can always spawn on the main infantry spawn location should it so desire.
- Added 3 different types of 3 inch ordnance rounds.
Opening the limber chest to expose the ammunition
Shell
Used for long distance firing. It’s thick metal encasing and big internal blast charge results in large deadly chunks of shrapnel being flung the furthest of the blast charge carrying round variants.
Picking up a selected round
Case Shot
Used for medium to long distance firing. With its thinner structural frame and smaller internal blast charge one could easily be misled to thinking that the case shot is the lesser one compared to the shell. What it lacks in explosive capabilities it more than makes up for in shrapnel deadliness however. Packing a wide range of differently sized balls that are shot out in all directions upon explosion, one could easily name this round the long distance cousin of canister.
Inserting the round into the muzzle
Canister
Used for short to medium distance firing. Probably the most notorious of the lot. This can packed with sawdust and 27 solid iron golf ball sized projectiles is carnage waiting to happen. It is often compared to a giant shotgun and with good reason. If you face a tight line of men in relatively close proximity to you, this is the round to use.
Ramming the round home
- Added a dynamic fuze system tied to the elevation screw. When adjusting the elevation screw a complete table of fire is displayed in the lower right corner of the screen detailing range, elevation, time of flight and fuze length.The dynamic fuze system ensures that you get the proper fuze length at whichever elevation (and thus range) you’ve adjusted the elevation screw to. We’ve implemented this in order for the artillery experience to be more enjoyable and also dramatically simpler to get into. A great deal of aiming and range estimating is still very much required in order to be an effective artilleryman. The dynamic fuze system is something that may very well change in later updates if alpha test results prove that it is too powerful a feature.
Overview of the Dynamic Fuze System
- Added ricochet abilities to artillery rounds. Artillery rounds impacting terrain or objects prior to their fuze timers are up, have a chance at ricocheting in another direction. The angle of the hit surface compared to the round trajectory determines how likely the round is to ricochet - if the angle is a shallow one the result will be a ricochet while closer to perpendicular angles will result in the round burying itself into the surface, eventually exploding when the fuze timer is up. A round can ricochet several times if the environment required is present. A ricocheted round will explode whenever its fuze timer runs out (just like any non ricocheted round).
Pulling the lanyard, thus firing the cannon
Visual upgrades
- Overhauled the lighting setup of the game, resulting in material tweaks and fixes for most of the textures used in the game, in order to increase the visual fidelity.
- Added interior environment probes and fog volumes to all enterable structures in the game, resulting in better lighting when inside of buildings.
- Major detail pass of the entirety of the level that is hosting all of the drill camps as well as picket patrol areas.
- Replaced a lot of our older environment textures with new better looking ones.
- Overhauled many of the environmental assets of Harpers Ferry, including the town houses as well as John Brown’s Fort, supporting more close up details such as improved doors, shutters, windows and gutter improvements.
Updated Environment Assets, Harpers Ferry
Updated Town Houses, Harpers Ferry
Updated Town Houses, Harpers Ferry
Overhauled John Brown’s Fort, Harpers Ferry
- Overhauled all of the forests available in the game with new tree trunk models, textures, as well as new high detail forest floor environment props such as tree stumps, rocks, fallen over trees, etc.
Updated tree trunk models
Updated tree trunk models
Updated tree trunk models
Updated tree trunk models
New forest floor environment props
New forest floor environment props
New forest floor environment props
- Updated the arms and hands models of all characters.
- Overhauled the stonewall pile model (it was ancient).
- Added a 2nd animation variation of a musket/rifle reload. We’ve been aware for quite some time that our original one wasn’t entirely accurate to the manual of arms of the period so we’ve now introduced a 2nd one into the mix that should remedy this.
Showcase of the new musket/rifle reload variation
- Updated the sword melee mode movement animations.
- Updated the revolver aim movement animations.
- Added a new open frock coat variant to both officers and privates.
- Added bendable hat brims when entering the right shoulder shift stance.
- The tents now react to the wind.
Other changes and fixes
- Added an overtime breaking timer (visually shown in the compass in the UI) to make players aware that the overtime is about to break due to the majority of players inside the point of contention having shifted from one team to the other. This should reduce the feeling of a buggy overtime feature often experienced by players due to the sudden stopped overtime and round end as they will now have enough time to, at the very least see that the majority is indeed shifted, if not even enough time to try to shift back the majority again which will stop the overtime timer.
Visual indicator of the new overtime breaking timer, giving you a moment to react in order to try to stop it or make it happen!
- As an infantryman, it is now only possible to spawn on the flag of your regiment. This should remove the confusion that can happen when you spawn in on the flag bearer of a regiment that isn’t yours.
- Added a warning and an auto kick feature if a player is exploiting the respawn mechanic in order to cause harm to his team’s morale.
- Added 28th Massachusetts and 17th Michigan to the Otto & Sherrick Farm skirmish area, Antietam, replacing the two Union regiments that used to be present there.
- Replaced 20th New York with 20th Maine at the Pry House skirmish area, Antietam.
- Centered all rifles and revolvers more accurately on the screen.
- Improved the sights model of the Whitworth rifle for easier aiming.
- Made the animations of other players with both revolvers and rifles line up more accurately in the direction they are actually aiming at. This should reduce the issues where somebody shoots you while it looks like the player is aiming in a completely different direction.
- Prevented the rifle from sometimes falling down to a 45 degree angle when in Right Shoulder Shift.
- Allowed particles in certain circumstances to be spawned faster, resulting in the smoke from a very tightly fired volley spawning less delayed.
- Possibly fixed the widely reported bush crash.
- Added a brick and concrete particle effect and wall dent for bullet impacts from small arms fire.
- Added a small screenshake as well as a small amount of suppression from bullet impacts from small arms fire hits a surface of the environment near you.
- Made the fouling of all rifles more accurately represent how much a particular weapon has been fired. This is still however only for the visual effect.
- Prevented players from spawning on the roof of Sherrick Farm via the flagbearer.
- Prevented players from spawning inside Burnside Bridge via the flagbearer.
- Prevented players from spawning inside the locked room in the Rohrback farmhouse via the flagbearer.
- Minor optimizations to the small props in all buildings.
- Removed a few old and unused files in the game for a slightly smaller file size footprint.
- Improved the sounds during the kneel reload.
- Made the Deployment UI screen always auto select either the flag bearer spawn for infantry or the forward artillery spawn if either of them are available. If not, the base spawn is auto selected.
- Added open/close interact messages when looking at doors that can be interacted with.
- Added the 28th Massachusetts flag.
- Added click sounds when clicking on some of the buttons on the deploy screens.
- Prevented the Field of View option from being set below 65 in order to limit the amount of FOV-exploiting when firing long range shots, resulting in a more level playing field.
- Added an additional music track that can play in the main menu.
- Added additional UI messages when losing connection to a server. Currently if you are actually banned, the message will still state that you have just been kicked.
- Added a new icon for the game.
- Fixed other players' weapons not producing a sound when they fire buck and ball.
What’s in store for the future?
With today’s update being the largest ever patch deployed to the game we do expect to be releasing a lot of reactionary updates to the feedback that we’ll be getting, that being said, more content and major additions is also being worked on. We’d like to remind you all that the version of the artillery released today is our initial artillery version which we expect to update with more features & tweaks based on our own roadmap as well as on your feedback.
Work is progressing nicely in relation to being able to bring you all one of (if not the) most well known cannons of the war, complete on its carriage no. 2, alongside its limbers and ordnance, the 1857 smoothbore 12-pounder Napoleon bronze cannon!
The next cannon to be added to War of Rights!
12-pounder limber containing the correct ordnance for the Napoleon
Work is also continuing on the long-awaited platform system set to help us combat many of the technical issues within the alpha which Philipp, the creator of the system, detailed a few months ago at: https://www.warofrightsforum.com/showthread.php?6507-Technical-issues-The-platform-system-explained
The implementation of the platform system is likely going to be the next major milestone for us. While possibly not as interesting a milestone as that of artillery to the average consumer it is of huge importance to the future of the game and so we’re very much looking forward to its release and we hope you’ll help us test it when we get there!
That’s all we have for now. We hope to be seeing you all on the fields of glory!
Until next time, keep your barrels clean and your sights true!